$B  26  sm 


OCT  18  1916 


22s  TWO  ERAS: 

OLD  and  NEW 


01*  THE 

1     UNIVERSITY 

OF 


EDWARD   S.  JEROME 


421   W.   EIGHTH    STREET 
^CoB  jAttgcIea,  CaL 


Olxe 

TWO  ERAS:  OLD  AND  NEW 

A  Political  and  Historical 
Sketch  of  Our   Government 

from 
1789  to  1917 

b? 

EDWARD  SPARROW  JEROME 


J.  F.  ROWNY  PRESS 

LOS  ANGELES 


T\vo  Eras:   Old  and 


'VERY  schoolboy  knows  that  Virginia  was 
called  the  Mother  of  Presidents.  Eight  of 
our  chief  magistrates,  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  Monroe,  Tyler,  William  Henry 
Harrison,  Taylor  and  Wilson,  were  born 
upon  her  sacred  soil.  The  first  four  were  elected  presi 
dent  from  their  native  state,  and  each  of  them  served 
two  terms,  or  eight  years;  Tyler  was  elected  vice- 
president  with  W.  H.  Harrison,  and  succeeded  him  at 
his  death  ;  Harrison  and  Taylor,  both  soldiers  of  distinc 
tion,  were  elected  president  from  Ohio  and  Louisiana, 
respectively,  and  died  before  their  terms  were  completed. 
Incidentally,  it  may  be  noted  that  they  were  the  only 
presidents  elected  by  the  Whig  party.  Wilson,  an  edu 
cator  of  distinction,  as  long  the  head  of  Princeton 
University,  was  chosen  from  New  Jersey. 

Washington  was  inaugurated  in  1789;  up  to  1861, 
seventy-two  years  thereafter,  the  South  had  the  presi 
dency  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  time,  or  forty-nine 
years  ;  the  North  about  one-third,  or  twenty-three  years. 
Though  the  latter  was  far  superior  in  population,  wealth 
and  commercial  importance,  the  former  was  able  to 
dominate  the  country  because  of  her  being  more  united 
and  thereby  more  aggressive.  Furthermore,  up  to  '61 
five  of  her  presidents,  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison, 
Monroe  and  Jackson,  had  been  re-elected;  the  North 
had  been  able  to  re-elect  none,  the  two  Adamses  and 
Van  Buren,  who  had  stood  for  another  term,  being 
defeated.  In  fact,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  gave 

[3] 


birth  to  all  the  Southern  presidents  during  this  period. 
Jackson  and  Polk,  both  native  sons  of  North  Carolina 
but  adopted  by  Tennessee,  were  the  only  ones  not  fur 
nished  by  The  Old  Dominion. 

In  this  golden  age  of  Virginia  and  the  South,  it  was 
quite  the  fashion,  however,  to  place  a  Northern  man 
upon  the  national  ticket,  either  as  president  or,  more 
frequently,  as  vice-president,  to  preserve  the  balance  of 
power  and  harmony  between  the  sections.  The  older 
and  younger  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  Van  Buren  of 
New  York,  Pierce  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Buchanan  of 
Pennsylvania,  served  these  purposes  as  presidents;  and 
George  Clinton,  Tompkins,  Gerry,  Dallas  and  Fill- 
more,  as  vice-presidents. 

In  this  period  of  our  history  there  was  no  West  as  we 
know  it  today.  There  were  then  but  two  great  divisions, 
or  sections,  of  our  country:  North  and  South.  The  for 
mer  comprised  all  that  part  lying  above  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line;  the  latter,  all  that  tract  below  it.  In  a 
word,  the  term  "North"  then  meant  the  territory  stretch 
ing  from  Pennsylvania  northeast  to  and  including  New 
Hampshire;  the  term  "South,"  that  extending  southwest 
to  and  including  Georgia.  Pennsylvania,  having  six 
states  beyond  and  six  below  her,  was  the  pivot;  hence 
her  name  of  The  Keystone  State.  The  original  thirteen 
colonies,  or  states,  stretched  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
irregularly  from  New  Hampshire  in  the  extreme  north- 
cast  to  Georgia,  the  extreme  southwest,  as  stated. 

As  new  states  were  added  to  the  Union,  they  were  of 
necessity  formed  from  territory  south  or  west  of  the 
original  thirteen,  Maine  excepted;  and  Kentucky,  admit 
ted  1792;  Tennessee,  1796;  Ohio,  1802;  Louisiana, 
1812;  Indiana,  1816,  and  others,  were  carved  out  of 
such  territory  during  the  first  thirty-five  years  after  the 
inauguration  of  the  government.  Up  to  this  time  (1824) 
the  West  did  not  presume  to  offer  a  candidate  of  its  own 
for  either  president  or  vice-president.  Until  then  all 
nominees  for  both  offices,  of  whatever  party,  had  been 
taken  from  and  born  in  that  narrow  strip  of  land  lying 
[4] 


along  the  Atlantic  seacoast.  In  that  year,  however,  the 
growing  country  burst  its  bonds:  it  crossed  the  Allegha- 
nies  for  two  of  her  presidential  candidates;  and  the 
Southwest  began  to  assume  proportions  as  a  political 
factor.  Two  men  from  that  section,  Henry  Clay  of 
Kentucky  and  Andrew  Jackson  of  Tennessee,  appeared 
as  rivals  for  the  seat  soon  to  be  vacated  by  James  Mon 
roe.  Neither  was  then  successful,  but  their  candidacy 
served  to  show  how  tenacious  the  original  thirteen  were 
of  their  supremacy  and  how  unwilling  they  were  to  relin 
quish  it:  Clay  was  born  in  Virginia,  Jackson  in  North 
Carolina  !  Hence,  both  were  more  Southern  than  West 
ern.  And  a  careful  study  of  our  political  history  reveals 
the  fact  that  not  only  our  presidents  and  vice-presidents, 
but  even  our  leading  unsuccessful  candidates  for  those 
offices  were,  with  few  exceptions,  born  in  the  thirteen 
states,  up  to  1861,  when  The  Old  Era  ended  and  The 
New  Era  began!  This  is  truly  a  remarkable  fact;  and 
shows  how  reluctantly  the  sceptre  passed  from  the  old 
states  to  the  new  ones ;  from  the  South  and  North  to  the 
West.  "Westward  the  star  of  empire  took  its  way"- 
though  very  slowly ! 

The  original  alignment,  as  we  have  seen,  was  between 
the  South  and  North.  In  1861,  after  a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury  of  agitation  and  struggle,  the  great  West  as  we 
know  it  today  came  in  for  her  proper  and  natural  share 
of  public  honors.  "Where  MacGregor  sits  is  the  head 
of  the  table" ;  and  the  Middle  West  has  ever  since  kept 
her  seat  very  near  that  coveted  place!  As  the  number 
of  states  of  the  Union  multiplied,  the  centre  of  popula 
tion  gradually  shifted  westward ;  and  political  supremacy 
did  likewise.  We  hear  much  of  the  Constitution  "fol 
lowing  the  flag" ;  and  The  Old  Era,  first  placing  her  flag 
at  half-mast,  then  furling  it  altogether,  surrendered  it 
into  the  hands  of  The  New  Era ;  then  meekly  followed 
her  into  the  mighty  West  (which  her  own  body  had 
largely  helped  to  create ) ,  out  of  whose  virgin  soil  wealth 
inexhaustible  was  to  be  dug;  upon  whose  fertile  plains 
an  empire  was  to  be  created;  and  from  whose  greatest 
son  a  new  Declaration  of  Independence  was  to  issue  ! 

[5] 


Up  to  1836  that  great  stretch  of  territory  north  of 
the  Ohio  had  presented  no  candidate  to  the  nation  for 
either  president  or  vice;  but  in  that  year  she  completed 
the  work  begun  in  1824 — not  only  passing  the  Allegha- 
nies  but  crossing  the  Ohio  and  putting  forward  William 
Henry  Harrison  of  that  state  as  a  fit  nominee  for  presi 
dent  on  the  Whig  ticket.  He  was  a  son  of  Virginia;  a 
military  hero  of  the  war  of  1812,  and  known  as  "Tippe- 
canoe" ;  old,  and  a  lover  of  hard  cider.  These  "qualifi 
cations,"  however,  did  not  prevent  his  defeat  by  Van 
Buren,  backed  as  he  was  by  the  great  power  of  Andrew 
Jackson.  Four  years  later,  or  1840,  the  tables  were 
turned  upon  Van  Buren,  "Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too" 
defeating  him  overwhelmingly.  But  Harrison  died  in 
the  White  House  exactly  a  month  from  his  inaugura 
tion;  and  the  fruits  of  their  victory  were  lost  to  the 
Whigs. 

The  election  of  1844  witnessed  the  third  and  last 
attempt  of  Henry  Clay  to  secure  the  presidency;  Theo 
dore  Frelinghuysen  of  New  Jersey,  his  running  mate. 
James  K.  Polk  of  Tennessee,  (born  in  North  Carolina) 
and  George  M.  Dallas  of  Pennsylvania,  opposed  them 
and  were  successful,  the  vote  of  New  York  turning  the 
scale. 

Encouraged  by  her  success  with  Harrison,  a  military 
hero,  in  1840,  the  West  in  1848  presented  another  can 
didate  in  the  person  of  General  Lewis  Cass  of  Michigan, 
on  the  Democratic  ticket.  Cass,  a  New  Hampshire  boy, 
had  some  military  reputation,  but  was  beaten  by  General 
Zach  Taylor,  "Old  Rough  and  Ready,"  the  real  hero  of 
the  Mexican  War.  His  success  against  Cass  was  due  to 
the  appearance  of  Martin  Van  Buren  as  a  Free-soiler, 
whose  vote  in  New  York  gave  that  state  to  the  Whigs. 

In  1852  both  great  parties  took  their  candidates  from 
the  old  sections :  Pierce  of  New  Hampshire  and  King  of 
Alabama  (born  in  North  Carolina)  against  Scott  of 
Virginia  and  Graham  of  North  Carolina.  The  former 
were  elected  overwhelmingly;  and  the  Whig  party 
ceased  to  exist. 

[6] 


Beaten  with  Scott,  a  Southern  military  hero,  the  West 
essayed  another  in  1856,  in  the  person  of  General  John 
C.  Fremont  of  California,  the  brilliant  Pathfinder.  This 
was  the  first  time  a  candidate  was  named  from  beyond 
the  Mississippi.  Fremont  was  born  in  Georgia;  as  a 
son-in-law  of  Thomas  H.  Benton,  was  allied  to  the 
Democratic  party;  yet  he  became  the  first  candidate  of 
the  new  Republican  party!  He  was  opposed  by  his 
wife's  father  on  the  ground  that  his  (Fremont's)  suc 
cess  "would  mean  the  triumph  of  a  sectional  party"  ! 
William  L.  Dayton  of  New  Jersey  went  down  to  defeat 
with  him.  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois,  then  unknown, 
received  a  large  number  of  votes  in  convention  for  vice- 
president,  and  was  Dayton's  nearest  competitor.  Buch 
anan  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Breckinridge  of  Kentucky, 
carried  the  country. 

Away  back  in  March,  1850,  William  H.  Seward  of 
New  York,  when  speaking  in  the  Senate  in  favor  of  the 
admission  of  California  into  the  Union  as  a  free  state, 
uttered  these  remarkable  words :  "The  people  have  been 
accustomed  to  say,  'the  South  and  the  North' ;  they  are 
only  beginning  now  to  say,  'the  North  and  the  South.' ' 
The  day  was  approaching,  the  hour  was  striking  in  which 
this  statement,  this  prophecy,  was  to  be  fulfilled;  the 
South's  supremacy  was  to  come  to  an  end;  her  sceptre 
was  to  pass.  Strangely  enough,  she  furnished  the  one 
who  was  to  exercise  the  sovereignty  thus  relinquished; 
she  provided  the  hero  for  the  great  drama  then  opening ! 

In  the  campaign  of  '60  Abraham  Lincoln,  born  on 
the  slave  soil  of  Kentucky,  reared  in  Indiana  and  there 
grown  to  manhood,finally  settling  in  Illinois,  the  Empire 
state  of  the  West, — a  physical,  mental  and  moral  giant, 
who  by  sheer  force  of  character  and  intellect  had  two 
years  before  wrested  the  leadership  of  his  state  from 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  Democratic  idol,  broke  up  the 
old  regime  by  capturing  the  presidency  on  the  Repub 
lican  ticket.  His  mate,  Hannibal  Hamlin,  hailed  from 
Maine;  thus  the  first  combination  of  East  and  West, 
with  the  West  the  senior  partner,  was  formed.  By  their 

[7] 


triumph  the  old  firm  of  South  and  North  was  dissolved; 
and  has  never  since  been  in  business. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  rivals  were  three  in  number,  and  pow 
erful :  Douglas  (born  in  Vermont)  and  H.  V.  Johnson 
of  Georgia  were  the  Northern  Democratic  candidates; 
Breckinridge  of  Kentucky  and  Joseph  Lane  of  Oregon 
(born  in  North  Carolina)  were  the  Southern  Demo 
cratic;  while  the  Constitutional  Union  Party  put  up 
John  Bell  of  Tennessee  and  Edward  Everett  of 
Massachusetts. 

"War  legislates"  ;  and  our  Civil  War,  which  followed 
hard  upon  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  disturbed 
and  recast  our  political  map.  States  like  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  Michigan  and  Illinois,  which  had  been  in  ante 
bellum  days  largely  Democratic,  became  strongly 
Republican.  The  treaty  which  had  so  long  existed 
between  the  South  and  North  was  destroyed  by  fire;  the 
compact  was  dissolved  by  mutual  consent;  and  each 
party  to  it  sought  a  new  alliance.  The  change,  the  revo 
lution  wrought  in  the  South,  was  even  greater  and  more 
significant  than  that  in  the  North.  Prior  to  '61  the 
South  had  been  largely  Whig,  and  numbers  of  her 
leaders  and  candidates  had  come  from  that  section: 
Clay,  Crittenden,  Bell,  Graham,  Mangum,  Badger. 
But  the  same  fire  which  burned  in  the  North  burned 
even  more  fiercely  in  the  South;  and  she  became  heart 
and  soul  Democratic. 

A  study  of  our  political  history  since  1 860  reveals,  not 
only  the  continued  existence  of  this  copartnership  be 
tween  East  and  West,  but  the  still  more  striking  fact 
that  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio  and  New  York,  the  Big 
Four,  have  furnished  nearly  all  our  candidates,  presi 
dential  and  vice-presidential,  since  that  time,  with  Ken 
tucky  standing  in  the  background.  A  review  of  this 
period  fully  confirms  these  statements. 

In  1864  the  Republicans  renominated  Lincoln,  put 
ting  Andrew  Johnson,  a  Tennessee  War  Democrat, 
upon  the  ticket  with  him.  Johnson  was  born  in  North 
Carolina, — one  of  the  original  thirteen!  Gen.  George 

[8] 


B.  McClellan  of  New  York  (born  in  Pennsylvania)  and 
George  H.  Pendleton  of  Ohio  were  the  Democratic  can 
didates;  and  the  youngest  pair  who  ever  entered  a 
national  race,  being  but  thirty-eight  and  thirty-nine  years 
of  age,  respectively.  The  Independent  Republicans, 
dissatisfied  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration,  put  for 
ward  Gen.  Fremont  and  Gen.  John  Cochran  of  New 
York.  This  ticket  was  withdrawn  later, — "not  to  aid  in 
the  triumph  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  to  do  my  part  toward 
preventing  the  election  of  the  Democratic  candidate," 
Fremont  wrote.  Lincoln  had  a  good  majority  of  the 
popular  vote  and  an  overwhelming  one  of  the  electoral; 
and  was  the  first  man  to  be  re-elected  by  the  North 
or  West. 

1868  saw  the  candidates  of  both  great  parties  taken 
from  the  same  territory, — Gen.  U.  S.  Grant,  born  in 
Ohio,  though  living  in  Galena,  Illinois,  being  the  Re 
publican  standard  bearer;  and  Horatio  Seymour  of 
New  York,  the  Democratic.  Grant's  running  mate  was 
Schuyler  Colfax  of  Indiana,  who  was  born  in  New 
York;  Seymour's  was  Gen.  Frank  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  hailing 
from  Missouri,  though  first  seeing  the  light  of  day  in 
"Ole  Kaintuck." 

1872  saw  Grant's  re-nomination  and  re-election. 
Henry  Wilson,  a  Massachusetts  senator,  born  in  New 
Hampshire,  was  associated  with  him.  Horace  Greeley, 
also  from  the  Granite  state  but  adopted  by  New  York, 
and  the  editor  of  the  Tribune,  bore  aloft  the  standard 
of  the  Liberal  Republican  and  Democratic  parties.  As 
in  '68,  the  Democracy  selected  a  Kentuckian  by  birth 
but  Missourian  by  adoption  as  their  vice-presidential 
candidate, — Benjamin  Gratz  Brown.  Greeley  was  not 
only  overwhelmingly  defeated,  but  did  not  live  to  wit 
ness  the  meeting  of  the  electors,  for  the  first  time  in  our 
history.  The  straight-out  Democrats  had  Charles 
O'Conor  of  New  York  and  John  Quincy  Adams  of 
Massachusetts  lead  them.  The  Prohibition  party  made 
its  first  appearance  in  the  national  field  at  this  election, 
James  Black  of  Pennsylvania  and  Rev.  John  Russell 

[9] 


of  Michigan,  being  its  nominees.  The  war  and  the 
issues  arising  from  it  had  absorbed  the  whole  attention 
of  the  country  for  twelve  long  years;  from  1872  onT 
other  questions  claimed  their  thought  and  devotion;  and 
to  this  fact  may  be  attributed  some  measure  of  the 
increasing  good  will  between  the  sections.  General 
Grant's  first  letter  of  acceptance  concluded  with  the  fer 
vent  words,  "Let  us  have  peace!"  Coming  from  the 
hero  of  Vicksburg  and  Appomattox,  they  had  extraor 
dinary  significance,  and  did  much  to  close  the  "bloody 
chasm/' 

The  Republicans  in  1876  selected  Gov.  Rutherford 
B.  Hayes  of  Ohio  and  William  A.  Wheeler  of  New 
York  as  their  nominees, — still  another  combination  of 
West  and  East !  The  Democrats  did  just  the  reverse,— 
selecting  their  candidate  for  president  from  the  East, 
Samuel  J.  Tilden  of  New  York,  and  their  choice  for 
vice-president  from  the  West,  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  of 
Indiana,  though  born  in  Ohio.  Even  the  standard 
bearers  of  the  National  Greenback  party,  which  for  the 
first  time  appeared  in  the  field, — Peter  Cooper  and 
Samuel  F.  Cary, — were  from  New  York  and  Ohio, 
respectively.  Kentucky,  in  order  to  maintain  her  repu 
tation,  furnished  the  National  Prohibition  Reform  party 
with  its  candidate  for  president,  Gen.  Green  Clay  Smith ; 
G.  T.  Stewart  of  Ohio  was  associated  with  him.  This 
presidential  election  was  more  closely  contested  than 
any  other,  the  Democrats  claiming  South  Carolina, 
Louisiana  and  Florida  for  Mr.  Tilden,  though  on  the 
face  of  the  returns  Mr.  Hayes  carried  them.  With 
these  votes  Mr.  Tilden  would  have  a  clear  majority  in 
the  electoral  college,  as  he  had  unquestionably  among 
the  people;  without  them  he  would  be  beaten  by  one 
vote.  After  long  and  exciting  discussions,  both  within 
and  without  Congress,  and  coming  dangerously  near  to 
civil  war,  the  decision  of  the  Electoral  Commission, 
created  by  Congress  specifically  to  hear  and  determine 
the  case,  gave  Mr.  Hayes  the  electoral  votes  of  these 
three  states,  who  thereby  gained  the  presidency  with 
185  votes  to  184  for  Mr.  Tilden. 
[10] 


The  election  of  1880  saw  the  Republican  party  take 
her  candidates  not  only  from  the  same  sections  as  in 
1876,  but  from  the  identical  states,  Ohio  and  New 
York,  and  in  the  same  order.  The  struggle  between 
Elaine  and  Grant  for  the  presidential  nomination  made 
a  compromise  candidate  necessary;  and  Gen.  James  A. 
Garfield,  a  native  Buckeye,  was  the  fortunate  man. 
Levi  P.  Morton  was  tendered  the  vice-presidency,  but 
declined  it;  then  Chester  A.  Arthur  was  selected.  Both 
of  these  gentlemen  were  born  in  Vermont,  but  had 
resided  for  many  years  in  New  York.  The  Democratic 
party  just  reversed,  sectionally  speaking,  taking  its  lead 
ing  candidate  from  New  York  in  the  person  of  Gen. 
Winfield  Scott  Hancock  (born  in  Pennsylvania),  a  gal 
lant  regular  army  officer  and  the  hero  of  Gettysburg. 
William  H.  English  of  Indiana  was  chosen  as  his  run 
ning  mate.  The  National  Greenback-Labor  party  put 
forward  Gen.  James  B.  Weaver  of  Iowa,  who  first  saw 
the  light  of  day  in  Ohio.  This  was  the  first  time  the 
Mississippi  river  had  been  crossed  by  any  political  party, 
save  in  1856  with  Fremont  by  the  Republicans.  After 
an  exciting  canvass  Garfield  was  elected  by  the  vote  of 
New  York. 

The  Republican  party  in  1884,  for  the  first  time  in  its 
history,  selected  its  presidential  candidate  from  the 
East,  in  the  person  of  James  G.  Blaine  of  Maine.  Penn 
sylvania  was  his  birthplace.  Associated  with  him  was 
Gen.  John  A.  Logan  of  Illinois.  The  Democracy 
adhered  to  its  traditional  policy,  inaugurated  in  1864,  of 
running  a  New  Yorker,  Grover  Cleveland  by  name,  for 
the  highest  office  in  the  nation.  Mr.  Cleveland  was 
born  in  New  Jersey;  and  up  to  his  election  as  governor 
of  the  Empire  state,  two  years  before,  was  practically 
unknown  outside  of  his  adopted  city  of  Buffalo.  He, 
like  James  K.  Polk  in  1844,  was  pitted  against  the  most 
brilliant  and  popular  man  of  his  time,  against  the  Henry 
Clay  of  his  generation;  and  like  Polk,  he  won  through  a 
narrow  margin  in  New  York,  which  turned  the  scale  in 
his  favor.  Mr.  Hendricks,  of  Indiana,  who  had  been 


Mr.  Tilden's  associate  in  1876,  was  elected  with  Mr. 
Cleveland.  The  Prohibition  standard  bearer,  John 
Pierre  St.  John,  hailed  from  Kansas,  though  born  in 
Indiana. 

Beaten  in  '84  with  an  Eastern  candidate,  the  Repub 
licans  in  '88  returned  to  their  time-honored  policy  of 
selecting  one  from  the  West,  and  picked  Benjamin 
Harrison  of  Indiana  as  the  man  to  lead  them  to  victory. 
Born  in  Ohio,  he  was  the  grandson  of  William  Henry 
Harrison,  the  first  Whig  president,  and  the  great-grand 
son  of  Governor  Benjamin  Harrison  of  Virginia,  one  of 
the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Levi 
P.  Morton,  of  Vermont  and  New  York,  was  placed 
upon  the  ticket  with  him.  President  Cleveland  was 
renominated;  associated  with  him  was  the  Old  Roman 
of  Ohio,  Allan  G.  Thurman.  Born  in  Virginia,  Thur- 
man  had  lived  in  the  Buckeye  state  from  his  sixth  year. 
Verily,  the  Old  Dominion,  claiming  both  Harrison  and 
Thurman,  could  not  relinquish  the  sceptre !  General 
Clinton  B.  Fisk,  the  Prohibition  candidate,  was  born  in 
New  York.  Benjamin  Harrison,  like  William  Henry, 
proved  a  winner,  defeating  President  Cleveland  even  as 
his  grandfather  had  defeated  that  other  distinguished 
New  Yorker,  President  Martin  Van  Buren;  though 
W.  H.  Harrison's  victory  was  much  more  overwhelm 
ing  and  did  not,  like  Benjamin's,  hinge  upon  the  result 
in  New  York. 

President  Benjamin  Harrison  was  renominated  in 
1892  with  Whitelaw  Reid  of  New  York  as  his  asso 
ciate.  Like  Harrison,  Reid  was  a  native  of  Ohio;  and 
their  joint  nomination  seemed  to  contravene  Article  II., 
Section  I.,  of  the  Constitution  which  reads  as  follows: 
"The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  states  and 
vote  by  ballot  for  two  persons,  of  whom  one  at  least 
shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  state  as  them 
selves."  But  though  both  were  native  sons  of  Ohio, 
Harrison  was  an  adopted  son  of  Indiana,  Reid  of  New 
York;  hence,  the  constitutional  inhibition  did  not  apply. 
William  Henry  Harrison  and  John  Tyler,  in  1840, 
both  natives  of  Virginia,  presented  a  parallel  case.  The 

[12] 


Democracy  tried  again  with  Cleveland,  placing  Adlai 
E.  Stevenson  of  Illinois  (born  in  Kentucky!)  upon  the 
ticket  with  him.  General  Weaver  appeared  once  more 
as  a  presidential  candidate,  this  time  of  the  Populists. 
Cleveland  was  chosen  by  a  large  popular  and  electoral 
vote;  though  Weaver  achieved  a  genuine  distinction 
in  being  the  first  third-party  candidate  since  1856  to 
receive  votes  in  the  electoral  college. 

Nominating  William  McKinley  of  Ohio  and  Garret 
A.  Hobart  of  New  Jersey  as  their  choice,  the  Repub 
licans  swept  the  country  in  1 896.  Opposed  to  them  were 
William  Jennings  Bryan,  an  adopted  son  of  Nebraska 
though  a  native  Illinoisian;  and  Arthur  Sewall  of 
Maine.  The  National  (or  Gold)  Democrats  refused 
to  follow  Bryan  and  supported  Gen.  John  M.  Palmer 
of  Illinois  and  Gen.  Simon  B.  Buckner  of  Kentucky. 
One  had  been  a  Union,  the  other  a  Confederate  gen 
eral;  each  had  served  as  governor  of  his  state;  and  both 
were  natives  of  old  Kentucky. 

Renominating  President  McKinley  in  1900,  the 
Republican  party  again  carried  the  country  against  Mr. 
Bryan,  though  by  a  decreased  majority  in  many  quar 
ters.  McKinley's  partner  was  Theodore  Roosevelt  of 
New  York;  Bryan's,  ex-Vice-President  Stevenson  of 
Illinois.  In  this  campaign  Eugene  V.  Debs  of  Indiana 
first  appeared  as  a  presidential  candidate  upon  the 
Social  Democratic  ticket.  He  polled  nearly  100,000 
votes. 

President  McKinley's  assassination  in  1901  brought 
Vice-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  into  the  executive 
chair  at  the  early  age  of  forty-three,  he  thus  becoming 
the  youngest  president  in  our  history.  In  1904  he  broke 
all  precedents  by  securing  an  election  as  president.  The 
other  vice-presidents  (Tyler,  Fillmore,  Johnson  and 
Arthur),  who  succeeded  to  the  presidential  office 
through  the  deaths  of  their  respective  chiefs,  were  not 
able  to  secure  a  nomination  even.  Charles  W.  Fair 
banks,  a  Buckeye  by  birth  but  Hoosier  by  adoption,  was 
Roosevelt's  running  mate.  Judge  Alton  B.  Parker  of 

[13] 


New  York  was  put  forward  by  the  Democratic  party; 
and  Henry  G.  Davis  of  West  Virginia  (born  in  Mary 
land)  was  associated  with  him.  Mr.  Davis  was  the 
oldest  candidate  in  our  history,  being  over  eighty  years 
of  age.  Eugene  V.  Debs  again  appeared,  this  time 
as  head  of  the  Socialist  party;  and  polled  over  400,000 
votes. 

Again  an  Ohioan  headed  the  successful  Republican 
ticket  in  1908  in  the  person  of  William  H.  Taft;  again 
a  New  Yorker,  James  S.  Sherman,  ran  for  vice-presi 
dent.  Both  Mr.  Bryan  and  Mr.  Debs  made  their  third 
trial  for  the  presidency,  equalling  Henry  Clay's  record 
of  1 824,  1 832  and  1 844  with  a  like  result.  Mr.  Bryan's 
partner  was  John  W.  Kern  of  Indiana. 

The  year  1912  saw  President  Taft's  defeat  for 
re-election,  Mr.  Sherman  of  course  sharing  the  same 
fate.  But  two  of  the  forty-eight  states,  Vermont  and 
Utah,  cast  their  electoral  votes  for  them.  Theodore 
Roosevelt's  candidacy  on  the  Progressive  ticket,  with 
Gov.  Hiram  Johnson  of  California,  was  responsible 
for  the  poor  showing  of  the  Republicans, — he  polling 
more  popular  and  electoral  votes  than  they.  Wood- 
row  Wilson  of  New  Jersey  (born  in  Virginia)  was 
chosen  president  because  of  this  breach;  and  Thomas 
R.  Marshall  of  Indiana  for  vice-president.  Another 
combination  of  East  and  West!  Again  was  Mr.  Debs 
in  the  field. 

In  this  year  of  grace  (1916)  President  Wilson  and 
Vice-President  Marshall  are  before  the  people  for 
re-election;  Charles  Evans  Hughes  of  New  York  and 
Charles  W.  Fairbanks  of  Indiana  are  opposing  them. 
Whatever  way  the  election  goes  the  combination  of 
East  and  West  simply  cannot  be  beaten.  Even  the 
Prohibition  candidate  for  president,  J.  Frank  Hanly, 
hails  from  Indiana,  though  born  in  Illinois. 

The  foregoing  sketch  of  our  national  political  history 
fully  bears  out  the  claim  that  the  Original  Thirteen 
States  ruled  the  country  up  to  1861 ;  and  that  since  that 
time  the  Big  Four,  namely,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois  and 

[14] 


New  York,  have  been  supreme.  The  first  period  con 
stituted  The  Old  Era;  the  latter,  The  New.  Virginia 
was  the  chief  factor  in  those  old  days,  but  long  a  cipher 
in  the  present  regime,  though  a  son  of  hers  now  sits  in 
the  White  House;  New  York,  associated  with  her  in 
that  early  time,  occupies  the  unique  distinction  of  being 
foremost  in  both.  It  has  been  said  that  few  men  are 
useful  in  more  than  one  era;  it  is  likewise  often  true  of 
states  and  nations.  Virginia  proved  the  rule;  New 
York  broke  it  and  thereby  became  the  exception.  Vir 
ginia,  Mother  of  Presidents  and  of  Henry,  Marshall, 
Scott,  Thomas,  the  Masons,  Randolphs  and  Lees, 
unheeding  the  warnings  and  pleadings  of  three  of  her 
greatest  sons,  Washington,  Jefferson  and  Clay,  refused 
to  favor  even  the  gradual  emancipation  of  her  slaves; 
and,  later,  was  caught  in  the  vortex  of  secession,  though 
reluctantly.  Her  domination  passed  with  the  rise  of 
anti-slavery  sentiment  throughout  the  country;  the  fall 
of  Richmond;  and  the  growth  of  the  West.  New  York, 
more  fortunate,  once  sharing  supremacy  with  her,  pre 
served  her  own  proud  place  in  the  galaxy  of  states  by 
reading  aright  the  signs  of  the  times  in  abolishing 
slavery  within  her  own  borders;  by  strongly  support 
ing  the  union  cause;  and  by  allying  herself  with  the 
West. 

If  Virginia  deserved  the  proud  title  of  Mother  of 
Presidents — and  she  did — New  York  must  be  called  the 
Mother  of  Vice-Presidents;  for  not  less  than  ten  of 
her  sons  have  filled  that  chair:  Burr,  George  Clinton, 
Tompkins,  Van  Buren,  Fillmore,  Wheeler,  Arthur, 
Morton,  Roosevelt  and  Sherman.  Of  these  Van  Buren 
was  elected  to  the  presidency,  also ;  while  three  of  this 
list,  Fillmore,  Arthur  and  Roosevelt,  succeeded  to  that 
high  office  upon  the  death  of  their  respective  chiefs, 
Taylor,  Garfield  and  McKinley.  Roosevelt,  as  already 
stated,  was  also  chosen  for  a  term  of  his  own.  Grover 
Cleveland,  another  New  Yorker,  served  eight  years  in 
the  White  House.  Taking  it  all  in  all,  when  one  stud 
ies  the  history  of  the  Empire  state  he  is  constrained  to 

[15] 


exclaim,  Great  was  Diana  of  the  Ephesians;  great  75 
New  York! 

The  geographical  center  of  these  United  States  is  at 
Topeka,  Kansas;  the  center  of  population  is  located  in 
Indiana,  according  to  the  last  census,  that  of  1910. 
From  the  foregoing  survey  of  our  history  one  would 
conclude  that  our  political  center  was  very  near  Indian 
apolis.  Within  a  radius  of  three  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  of  that  city  a  majority  of  our  presidents  and 
vice-presidents  since  1861,  and  even  the  candidates,  of 
all  parties,  for  those  offices  since  that  time,  have  been 
recruited. 

What  the  future  of  our  country,  politically  speaking, 
is  to  be  no  one  knows;  but  as  our  population  increases 
and  the  votes  in  the  electoral  college  are  thereby  aug 
mented,  the  West,  growing  much  more  rapidly  than  the 
East,  looms  up  larger  and  larger.  The  East  must  make 
extraordinary  efforts  to  retain  her  present  command 
ing  position.  From  our  first  census  the  center  of  popu 
lation  has  shifted,  first  southward,  then  westward; 
from  its  present  place  in  the  Mississippi  valley  it  may 
yet  cross  that  river.  Should  it  do  so  the  East  will  be  in 
great  danger  of  losing  that  proud  place  which  New 
York's  pre-eminence  alone  sustains.  The  Mississippi 
crossed,  the  center  of  political  gravity  will  be  entirely 
beyond  and  outside  of  New  York,  which  must  of  neces 
sity  fall.  In  many  national  elections  the  result  has  been 
attained  without  any  assistance  from  her;  in  fact,  with 
few  exceptions,  notably  '44,  '48,  '60,  '80  and  '84,  New 
York  has  not  been  a  deciding  factor.  Sometimes  she 
was  on  the  winning  side,  as  in  1840  and  1852;  some 
times  on  the  losing,  as  in  1856  and  1868;  but  with  the 
exceptions  noted  her  voice  has  not  been  decisive  in  a 
hundred  years.  As  time  goes  on  she  will  become  less 
and  less  indispensable  to  any  political  party;  and  while 
she  is  the  Empire  state  of  the  Union,  because  of  her 
wealth,  population  and  commercial  importance,  Ohio,  a 
child  of  the  Old  Dominion,  has,  like  Jacob,  become  a 
supplanter  and  succeeded  her  as  the  Mother  of  Presi 
dents!  Verily,  Virginia,  like  Webster,  "still  lives." 

[16] 


This  study  of  our  political  history  has  been  written 
with  no  partisan  bias,  no  sectional  bitterness;  only  with 
the  sincere  desire  to  ascertain  the  facts,  present  them 
and  draw  the  lessons  from  them.  The  writer,  bound  by 
the  most  sacred  ties  to  both  North  and  South,  rejoices 
that  the  time  has  again  come  in  which  the  home  of 
Washington,  of  Jefferson  and  of  Jackson  furnishes,  as 
of  old,  worthy  candidates  for  national  honors;  arid  not 
until  the  South  once  more  took  her  rightful,  her  his 
toric  place  in  the  administration  of  our  affairs,  would 
we  be  in  reality  one  country  and  share  a  common 
destiny ! 


[17] 


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DEC  141931 


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